What's Real, What's Fake
by SentientExistence
Summary: A coding glitch. An error. A night of whispered promises and knives stabbed through flesh. And now she's an entity with a passion for revenge- but maybe what she's running from isn't that bad. If she could be Herobrine's queen- maybe everything will be worth it because to somebody, finally, she'll be worth it.


**Hello! I am alive, and this time, in the world of Minecraft! *waves iron sword* I took a challenge from ihearthorses6000, (and found out about from Dragstream) to write a scene with a certain sentence, and to connect it to Minecraft. Yes, I know- this one shot is poorly connected, not exactly the best, but hey. The heroine in this story I kept really abstaract on purpose, so you guys can give her a backstory, whatever. And the bolded or italicized font are the words of the Nether and Overworld guardians of a sort. But- well, enjoy! **

Her magic was the power of the moon and the strength of its dark side. Swift as the wind and burning like fire, seething underneath her skin. Her eyes were the color of the End crystals and just as hypnotic. Her words were rain on glass sliding down the panes until they dissipate into a thousand tiny droplets. And she rose and rose until she had nothing left but to fall.

He seduced her with one hand and slid a knife between her ribs with the other. He knew there was nothing left to do, then the monsters would be silent. He knew his torment would end if her heart would just stop _beatingbeatingbeating_ aflutter like a hummingbirds' wings because she wants nothing more than to survive.

He's a monster and he knows it, but maybe if he kills her it'll be over. Just let it be over, and they're screaming at him and grabbing his hand and driving it forward and even if he wanted there's no way he could ever have stopped because if he stops than that means he'll be left in the dark, alone, and broken. He causes pain because that's less pain and less of a chance that it'll be him next with a target painted bright, bright, red on his back.

Lucky for him he didn't know.

He fled, fled from the scene with nothing but the clothes on his back, and she laid with blood spurting, the seeping, then trickling from her abdomen until finally it stops and she's drowning in a puddle of her own blood as she twitches, clinging on only because she _can't die, _the darkness of death holds no place for her, she will never have reprieve ever, never.

**That was the price she paid. She chose it, don't lie to me.**

_She took the magic with one hand and tore out her soul with the other, what do you think?_

**Not her soul. She wasn't that lucky. Remember- one drop of the oil stops her heart. And that's not half of it.**

She was lucky. Nobody knows how but one day she emerges from the cottage with a faint pink line where a stab wound should be and her eyes _blazingblazingblazing_ with quiet determination because she'll find him and he'll be sorry, that's what she owes herself and maybe, maybe, maybe then she can finally feel worth it.

She sets out with softly shimmering diamonds crafted beautifully into armor, a gleaming sword, and a bow that she held with all the reverence of a priest. She takes nothing else but the fire in her blood and the pain in her gaze.

The land is filled with villages, cottages. She stays the night often, always slipping out in the morning, with her purse a bit heavier than before. They don't notice. So what's the harm, really?

Until one day a leering man puts his hand on her shoulder, says she's pretty, runs his eyes over her sides, and she panics. It's understandable, but where other girls would have run, or screamed, she turns and blasts half the town away. She doesn't look back to see what happens, just_ runsrunsruns_ down the street, veering off to the side. She sprints until she can't anymore, then stops with sweat pouring down her face. She lies under a tree and falls asleep like a child, eyes blissfully closed.

**Should've known better. Stupid enough to fall asleep in broad daylight, smart enough to run before that. Stupid. **

_She's exhausted, can't you see? Let the girl rest. It's not her fault._

It takes one day for them to realize who she is. It takes them half a day to catch up.

She wakes up confused when the sun is setting and she hears the baying of hounds off from the horizon. She keeps running, this time buoyed by fear and not determination. If they catch her, it means it's real, that she's become the monster she's trying to catch, that she killed them because she knew that she must have killed someone. If they catch her, it's real. If they catch her, there's no escape. Ever.

She keeps going, but the dogs don't rest either. They both keep running. She eventually reaches an Extreme Hills, where the ground rises up like it's alive, and her legs burn but she keeps scaling the mountains. Finally she spots it- a huge mountain. It towers up into the sky, and she stops for a second because it's so breathtaking. Breathtaking and amazingly awe-inspiring.

She races up it. The hounds will fall back, she's sure. They'll go back to their masters and she'll be free to keep going.

**What is that girl thinking? She'll be trapped- no question about it.**

_She's smart. She won't do it._

**You'd damn well better be right.**

An inkling in the back of her mind tells her that if he really was mortal, she would have found him a long time ago. She ignores it because she's read the reports, knows that her village burned down to the ground. She thinks it's him, she guesses she's wrong. But the point is now that it's not just about her, it's about the four others she left back in the village, and now she's gotta find him because there's nothing left for her if she doesn't. She's given him too much of her, too little to be inextricably linked to him, but enough for him to break her heart. So she doesn't really have a choice in the matter.

She runs until she's at the top, then looks down. Three blocks away are the dogs. And right behind them are the people. They aim their arrows- nearly all of them have enchanted iron or diamond armor. The three at the front ride horses, also with armor. She's trapped- standing on the edge of the cliff. The clouds are only a few blocks away above her head. Her heart is pounding. There's nothing left for her to do- either she lets herself be captured- or maybe not.

They have their bows drawn, and it's not to hurt her- all fifty or so arrows are aimed directly at her heart. A killing shot. Either she dies at their hands or she dies at the bottom of the cliff.

She eyes the arrows. The arrowheads gleam under the sunlight with an oily sheen. Yes, she will die. But if she leaps, she'll be maimed for life, doomed to nothing but agony until someone finds her and puts her back together.

**Liar. She's really messed it up this time. You were her guardian, for Notch's sake!**

_She's just a coding glitch. There will be lapses in her thinking. Irrational lapses. Like how she fell in love with him after a week. And how she "forgets" her magic._

**You're sick. And I suppose every glitch produces an individual entity, right? Just remove her- it's not like she could do anything. Steve is biomes away, Alex is in the Nether. Not like she would have produced more than a disappointing boss fight, anyways.**

_Fine, I will. And I'm not her guardian- not on paper._

**Sure.**

She evaluates her options. The wind is whistling. The commander looks at her, eyes narrowed, his arrow pointed directly at her heart. She watches him. He turns for a second. "Now-"

She's gone. Her body plunges down, down, down. She's falling.

_"NOOOOOOOOYOUCANTNOTNOW!" _she's _screamingscreamingscreaming_ trying to stop it but sound won't stop gravity, no way-

**I can't do this.**

_What happened to you?!_

**Hell, I'm doing this.**

_Really?_

**"Hey, you won't die."**

She's hallucinating, she must be, the voice in her head must be a result of her panic but then a figure appears somehow, eyes patronizing. **"Don't worry, we're both coding errors. Glitches. Your magic's a magnet. Good luck."**

The force of the fall gave her magic the final bit of force needed. She's dragged through earth and stone to the End portal- a living eye of Ender. it's agonizing and horrible but at the End her feet are firmly on Endstone and the Endermen are everywhere.

The dragon's gone. There should be something there- a guardian, like in the stories. But there's nothing left but a huge castle made of obsidian and nothing left to lose. She looks around, her eyes wide. No she can't cry but the pressure builds up behind her eyes and she bites her lip until it bleeds. The castle is huge and imposing but there's no one in it, she knows this because its only inhabitant...

Is right behind her, hand on her shoulder, with those _silversilversilver_ eyes looking at her like she's the most important thing in the world that finally breaks her.

**I didn't save your worthless ass for this, please, I'm done!**

_You're acting like a child right now._

**I know, that's the beauty of it.**

He whispers in her ear "I'm sorry what I did I know it's a mistake, please forgive me."

And that's when she realizes and breaks further. because Herobrine doesn't apologize, he's never apologized, ever, not to her, not to anyone, and oh-no, she's a dead girl walking, and he returned, didn't he, to destroy them so there would be nothing left for her to come home to. She knows but maybe it wouldn't be so bad, now would it, and he's smiling, still smiling. "It's your own choice." he says because he knows what she hears, no, it's not, it never will be but she nods anyways.

His face breaks into a grin, a real one, and her resolve nearly shatters. He pulls her into an embrace, a friendly one, and this is a king and she could have his kingdom and how bad would that be because her magic is all he needs, and she'll rule at his side-

Nononono the girl she left behind at the village would never have approved of this, oh-

But she was stupid and foolish- look, power, power right before her eyes, he rules the End, soon it'll be the Overworld and they'll have a castle in the sky-

Oh, please, no-

She puts an arm around him, still holding her sword aimlessly. She puts the other arm up and he smiles with narrowed eyes where she can't see and then-

She explodes. And explosion that shakes the very ground beneath her feet and she rises up and slams her sword into his heart up to the hilt with her magic pushing it forward. and she screams into the wind that he never loved her while tears pour down her cheeks and he vanishes in an explosion of white smoke and-

She's standing alone. No one ever had a claim on her, ever. Ever.

She looks around, and there it is. the Portal. She takes one step forward- then another- Until she's standing at the edge, about to fall in. She watches the portal- then jumps.

The second before she leaps in, she hears an ancient, primal roar, one of joy and freedom because someone has finally been freed, and a hand caresses her jaw because he'll be back, won't she see, but oh, this time she'll be prepared, and as she stands in the fortress with the exit marked clearly out to her, she knows that he'll come back. He'll come back with eyes like fire and the desire for revenge, but this time, she'll attack first. She'll never have rest, not ever, but if she chose that castle in the sky, she wouldn't have won anyhow.

**Good girl. She's right, though. He's back already.**

_Please- she's not a child, unlike you._

**And I suppose a child holds the Nether in their hands?**

_I'm just saying it right now- the Nether sucks. The Overworld is so much better._

**Still. She'll go to the Nether, one day. one day she'll realize that she could never lead a normal life. But that's a day in the future- go, dance, whatever- you're free.**

_How poetic._

**Thank you kindly.**


End file.
